Life as a Leach

We said goodbye to Anna after getting to spend so much quality time with her. There were hugs all around!

I'm a wish kid, and I wish to be Elsa!

Both of my kids love to dance.  Seriously.  Have you ever seen Caleb's "Irish Dancing?"  If not...you are in for a treat!  :) Anyway, when Anna asked if she could teach Caleb a traditional Arendale dance, he wholeheartedly agreed!  He was such a good sport! First, they bowed and curtsied. She taught him a few moves... Then he dipped her! Abby sat like this watching them the whole time.  It was so cute! When it was Abby's turn to dance, there was lots of twirling and cape swooshing involved! I know I've said it a million times already, but this experience was so magical!  Anna was absolutely perfect and the kids were just in awe of her.  So was I, honestly!  I couldn't stop smiling from behind my video camera!

Telling secrets!

To cement how wonderful Anna was, she found a book in the room where our meet and greet was and asked if Abby would like to read it.  Then she read the book (still in character the entire time!) and talked about it with Abby.  It was SO sweet!

Abby was refusing to put her coat on to walk into Young Athletes the other night. Me: Abby, it's really cold.  You need a coat on! Abby: Mom. (Eye roll and dramatic pause). I'm Elsa. The cold doesn't bother me anyway!

Abby got a picture frame that spells her name from Grammy and Pop for Christmas.  I wanted to do a little collage of her Wish Day pictures in it, so I put it together tonight.  I think it turned out really cute!  I can't wait for her to see it tomorrow! You couldn't see this one as well in the whole frame picture, but I liked the way it turned out.  This is her official Make a Wish picture with her "I'm a wish kid and I wish to be Elsa!" Sign. 

Make a Wish had set up a private meet and greet with Anna.  Anna would greet Abby as Elsa, finally getting to meet the real  Elsa for the first time (in forever...)!  It was such a magical experience! Abby's first glimpse of Anna She was a little shy at first, but Anna was wonderful and chatted enough for the both of them. Caleb did a lot of the talking in the beginning too! Mostly, Abby stood with this dumbfounded grin on her face, in total shock that she was actually meeting Anna! Anna checked out Abby's Pixie Dusted wish pin! Abby warmed up really quickly though, and soon they were playing Checkers with Caleb! Double high fives! I want to do this experience justice, so I'm going to break this meet and greet up into several different posts.  It's way too magical to share in just one post! 

One of the surprises of Abby's Wish Day was having a photo shoot after her transformation!  The photographer was fantastic and Abby was SO cooperative!  If you know Abs, you know she's a bit  stubborn.  Since we couldn't prepare her for the photo shoot, we had no idea how she would do.  But she was such a little ham and totally loved the camera! When we were packing for the trip, I had to convince Matt that Abby needed her fancy silver sparkly shoes.  He felt like they were unnecessary and she could just walk around in tennis shoes.  I reminded him that she was going to BE Elsa and that Elsa needed fabulous shoes!  However reluctantly, he was able to fit the silver shoes in our bulging suitcase.  But seriously, how perfect are they?!?!  They were worth the extra stress on the zipper! The Memory Maker editing software allows you to include signatures of the various characters.  So here's Elsa! Elsa's bo...

I was going to do all of these posts in order from the start of our trip to the finish, but once I got all of the pictures from Memory Maker, I just want to share them!!  So...we're going to jump to the main event of Abby's Wish Day! On the morning of Abby's Wish Day, we headed to Bippiti Boppiti Boutique where Abby got a complete Elsa makeover! This is in the dressing room, right after she put the dress on...before the transformation! First, her Fairy Godmother pulled her hair back and put in about 2 gallons of hair spray. She got her nails painted and her makeup done--a first for her! Then, her hair stylist put in a blond hair piece and her crown!  There were lots of bobby pins in that little head of hers! Love that sassy face! Of course, she needed a little bit of Pixie Dust! And so did her Make a Wish pin! The finished product!! She had been facing away from the mirror the whole time. This was...